1MDB: I was close with Jho Low - Najib's former banker

 

1MDB TRIAL | Najib Abdul Razak’s former banker developed a close working relationship with fugitive businessperson Low Taek Jho (Jho Low) after they first met 15 years ago, the Kuala Lumpur High Court heard.

Former AmBank relationship manager Joanna Yu testified this during the RM2.28 billion 1MDB corruption trial against the former premier and finance minister this afternoon.

During cross-examination by the accused’s lead defence counsel Muhammad Shafee Abdullah, the 41st prosecution witness said that she developed this close working relationship since she was introduced to Low in 2007.

The introduction was two years before the establishment of 1MDB’s predecessor, Terengganu Investment Authority (TIA).

Previously during trial before judge Collin Lawrence Sequerah, Yu (above) testified that her bank superior Chan Wan Seong first introduced her to Low in relation to a loan deal involving a company called Majestic Masterpiece Sdn Bhd.

Shafee: You developed a close relationship (with Low)?

Yu: Yes.

Shafee: As a banker and as a friend?

Yu: Yes.

Shafee: This developed over a period of time? I am not suggesting anything inappropriate, just that you got close to him (in a professional capacity)?

Yu: Yes.

Yu confirmed with the defence counsel that she had various meetings with Low at the latter’s unit at luxury apartment 8 Kia Peng in Kuala Lumpur.

Other 1MDB-linked people also there

She said that her various meetings there were in relation to the loan deal involving Majestic Masterpiece, and that during these meetings there were other 1MDB-linked personalities.

Yu said that these personalities were 1MDB’s then CEO Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi, the sovereign wealth fund’s then officers Casey Tang, Tan Vern Tact, Kee Kok Thiam, and Jasmine Loo, and Putrajaya Perdana Bhd’s (PPB) then group executive director Jerome Lee.

According to the authorities, Tang, Tan, Kee and Loo were alleged to be close associates of Low in the 1MDB affair.

Jho Low

Yu’s testimony today over meeting Low at the 8 Kia Peng apartment unit is similar to past testimonies of prosecution witnesses such as Najib’s former special officer Amhari Efendi Nazaruddin and Shahrol, who previously testified about meeting Low at the same apartment unit.

The 1MDB trial before Sequerah will resume on Monday.

The prosecution was conducted by Mohamad Mustaffa P Kunyalam.

Yu was one of the key prosecution witnesses during Najib’s previous RM42 million SRC International corruption trial.

During the SRC trial, Najib’s lawyers cross-examined her for several weeks and at one point, Yu reportedly cried while on the witness stand.

The accused is serving a 12-year jail sentence over the SRC case, with him being brought to court by Kajang Prison authorities to attend his various ongoing criminal trials, which include the 1MDB case.

In relation to the ongoing 1MDB trial against Najib, Yu testified among others that she was introduced to Low two years before TIA was set up in 2009, that she never met the accused directly over his bank account and that Low wanted several so-called Arab letters to be kept secret.

The alleged Arab letters refer to several documents which Najib purportedly relied on to prove a contention that the Middle Eastern kingdom’s royalty promised him a donation.

25 charges

In relation to the 1MDB trial before Sequerah, Najib is facing four counts of abuse of power and 21 counts of money laundering involving RM2.28 billion from 1MDB.

Najib Abdul Razak

For the four abuse of power charges, the former Pekan MP was alleged to have committed the offences at AmIslamic Bank Berhad’s Jalan Raja Chulan branch in Bukit Ceylon, Kuala Lumpur, between Feb 24, 2011, and Dec 19, 2014.

On the 21 money laundering counts, Najib, who was also a former finance minister, was purported to have committed the offences at the same bank between March 22, 2013, and Aug 30, 2013.

The prosecution contended that the wrongdoing at 1MDB was carried out by Low and several others with Najib’s blessing.

However, the accused’s defence team claimed that Najib had no knowledge of the crime perpetrated at 1MDB and that Low as well as other members of the fund’s management had masterminded the embezzlement.

Initially a subsidiary of 1MDB, SRC later became fully owned by the Minister of Finance Incorporated (MOF Inc). MOF Inc is also the full owner of 1MDB.

Najib also used to be adviser emeritus to SRC as well as chairperson of 1MDB’s board of advisers. - Mkini